concept: 15x20 is the ending dean thinks he deserves
so chuck isn't writing the story anymore, right? and for the first time, dean has the chance to write his own ending. but because he is deeply grieving and having like 80 years of trauma all catch up with him at once, he's going to write himself the ending he thinks he deserves. he dies but it's okay. it looks cool, like in the movies. sam lives, and sam has a great life. the apple-pie life that dean thinks sam still wants. blurry wife is because dean can't predict who sam is going to end up with. and i know i've said this bit before: the heaven dean lands in is the heaven dean thinks he deserves (and bobby says it is!). it's a heaven where dean is a dutiful son and brother, in which he plays his role. it's not a heaven dean wants, but he truly believes he does not deserve any better. and that's why cas isn't there. dean thinks he got cas dead, and thinks he doesn't deserve cas. so cas is off doing important angel shit and living his own life without dean to mess it up.
finally, it's why the tone of the ending is so...smug? that's not the exact word i want, but i mean the sense that this was always what was supposed to happen, this is the best ending dean could hope for, and he was foolish to dream of actually getting to be happy. these are all things dean tells himself on the regular. so if he wrote his own ending, wouldn't he say them all again?
This is the first time 15x20 makes any sense to me. But it does not make it any better.
